recently bought an 1996 a4 sedan 2.8L v6 fwd automatic. bought it about 2 months ago, has run fine since purchase. haD about 230xxxKM on it. everything worked perfectly but today right after i parked somewhere and was about to turn the engine off the car exploded coolant everywhere! like i even got some splatter on my windscreen. the car was running completely normal up until this point and i didnt notice any overheating or anything of the sort. i turned the car off immediately and popped the hood to find that coolant had sprayed everywhere. the cause at first i thought was the left main hose(a thick black hose which circulates coolant in or out) had came off the part it connects to. at this point i thought oh the hose just probably wasn't clamped tight enough and had come off. but when i tried to reconnect the hose onto what ever it connects on to that connector actually started breaking and it seemed corroded. so the hose is fine and looks almost brand new but the part it connects to on the car is breaking. and a part of that piece i felt inside the hose. so now i'll disconnect the hose and have to flush it out because i dont want that piece circulating into my engine and ceasing it. here's what's going on. i still don't have my car with me because i left it where it was and plan on getting it towed home, unless i don't need to. found this very excellent picture which is not from my car but will definitely help you guys understand where the problem is so you can help me. the picture is from a quattro but i don't think it should matter with a problem such as this (please correct me if i'm wrong)

so apparently i cant post urls so i have attached the picture instead

so in the picture the outlet hose (the one on the left) is the one that came off. the hose is fine the reason it came off is because the part where it connects to (the piece that both the inlet and outlet hose connect to) is corroded and breaking off. i need to know what that part is called, and if i'll be able to find a replacement easily. also should i take the risk of reconnecting everything and tightening it up and driving the car back to my place or should i just get it towed. any help would really be appreciated.

 

dont quote me on this because i have yet to obtain my car, but im pretty sure thats the heater core( looks like a mini radiator used to make heat for the cabin) you cannot fix this nor should you drive the car since its probably impossible to make it work so that it does not leak. what you could do is buy a coolant flushing tee or any tee that would fit both those hoses and clamp them on to this. im also not sure how difficult it is to replace the heater core on these cars. most heater cores are very difficult since most of the time you have to remove the dash to get to the hvac box to get the core out.

to get an idea what the tee looks like heres a picture

also, are you sure you got pieces of metal in the hose or the heater core? if its just the heater core you should be fine. if its in the hose and you flush the engine coolant out the pieces might get stuck in the water pump or the thermostat. so be carefull. it wont seize your engine but it might seize the water pump or get stuck in the thermostat making it stay open.

 

Correct, connect the lines together so you can drive the car and say goodbye to heat for a while. (Until you replace the heater core!)

 

thanks alot guys! you're both a great help! upon talking to my dad (a mechanical engineer, go figure) he had already told me to basically connect the two hoses and replace the heating core after i had figured out that it was infact the heating core. but i didnt know they made kits like the one you posted above! that really is a time saver and hopefully i can find one. and yes i will have to strip the dash to replace the heating core. a tedious and time consuming job but oh well. thanks again though!